Book 28 Chapter 9

Here comes the color magic!

-A chance encounter or a stroke of fate?

"Ha, ha, ha!"

A white breath escapes from between the lips of the white youth.

It's a clear spring day, the sun is still shining brightly in the middle of the sky, and a soft white breath is leaking out of the old man's parched lips. His shaking head barely turns to the side to look at a person.

"C'mon, big brother, run away……. Please take revenge……."

With those words, the white youth collapsed to the floor.

"Priestess!"

A wail of anguish erupted from the mouth of the one called the Great Brother. The fallen white youth was covered in white frost, as if his entire body had been frozen.

"Ugh, how did this happen!"

He couldn't believe it was happening.

The pursuit party has completely disintegrated, leaving him alone.

It was annihilation.

His belief that he had nothing to fear with the priests was shattered. Instead, fear filled his heart.

"How can you be so evil!

It was a miscalculation of a miscalculation that I hadn't even guessed that he'd already achieved that feat.

"Hmph, hmph, hmph, you too, come here."

After striking down the eleventh priest, Madhu's white hand reached for him. A pure white chill froze the air from the eerily pale hand.

"All that's left is you!

The hand was telling him so, and he was forced to admit, with shame, that he was no match for the author. It was a clear defeat for him, and he was merely ashamed of his self-important clowning.

I could reflect and reflect and reflect that I will be humble and humble in the future, if only so that the priests can come back alive.

But the water had been spilled, and there was no turning back.

He could see it now. Tears poured from his eyes like a waterfall. Even in death, he could not face the priests.

"Ouch!"

A vendetta that must be fulfilled!

To do that, he had to live. Only then could he take revenge.

So he turned and ran.

Disgraced, he ran, tears of regret in his eyes.

* * *

Bi Ryuyeon and the rescue team were traveling up an unnamed mountain pass in disguise. It was tempting to hurry them along, but such a rush would risk attracting more attention than necessary, so they kept the number of people in the group to a minimum and traveled at a slightly faster pace than normal.

The group had chosen the shortest route to the Black Sky Blind and were walking on a mountain trail that might be a bit rough for the average person. Despite the haste with which they were organized, the group was experienced and quite skilled, so they didn't have much trouble making their way up the mountain. Unusually, some of the lowest-ranking plowmen were being carried in one of the carts carrying the marks. This would have been unthinkable under normal circumstances, but it was done because the untrained martial artists would have slowed them down.

Normally, this would have resulted in a bunch of bandits crawling out of nowhere. But after one pass, two passes, three passes, the bandits didn't even bat an eyelid, as if their seeds had dried up.

Bi Ryuyeon didn't stop walking, but she did look left and right, savoring her meal.

"There will be no bandits if you wait that long, Ryuyeon."

Jang Hong, who was following behind, suddenly spoke up. Bi Ryuyeon's gaze naturally turned to him.

"It's a place where you could build a house or two, and there's a lot of foot traffic."

It was a moderately rough and tumble shortcut, the so-called bandit's yolk. With a thirst this good, it wouldn't be strange at all if there was a shop or two, Jang Hong shook his head excitedly.

"It doesn't matter how good the land is, if the owner is a tiger, the tigers have no choice but to run away with their tails between their legs."

What Jang Hong meant was that this was the territory of the Black Heavenly Blind, and they didn't take kindly to other rattlers wandering around in their territory.

"Hey, Chit, I thought you might want to earn some pocket money."

Bi Ryuyeon clicked his tongue and muttered to himself. He may have been speaking to himself, but his voice was loud enough for the entire Hubei Branch to hear, and his passing remark caused the Iron Heart Chief of the Hubei Branch of the Zhongyang Marking Bureau to be stunned to the point where his Iron Heart star was no match for the Iron Heart.

What kind of nerve does he have to say something like that? It's as if this is some sort of emergency personal vault with bandits' bodies scattered all over the place.

At this moment, a slender figure walking beside Bi Ryuyeon raised a bamboo stalk and looked toward Bi Ryuyeon. Despite being dressed in shabby marker clothes, the marker's backside somehow attracted the viewer's attention. The beauty of the women in the rescue party was so overwhelming that they risked drawing attention to themselves, so they had all dressed in the shabbiest men's clothing possible and covered their faces with bamboo shoots.

"I have a long way to go right now, Ryuyeon. If you're disappointed, you can rob somewhere else later, right?"

When the word "turn" came out of the mouth of Na Yerin, who was considered the most beautiful woman in the world, the group was overwhelmed with unspeakable shock and sadness. But Na Yerin didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Of course, Bi Ryuyeon was no different.

"Oh, I don't know, I don't think I'd get anything out of it if I had to go through all that trouble, so I just thought it would be a nice change of pace."

Don't use bandit hunting and skinning as a diversion!

I had to hold back the chimney-like urge to scream, "I'm so glad you're here!

"Well, that makes sense."

They were surprised when Yerin nodded her head in agreement.

There was definitely a feeling that Na Yerin had changed a bit. Their common thought was that it must be due to Bi Ryuyeon's bad influence.

"You're right, Yerin, you're right with me. Everyone is so tense, so serious, and I know it's important, but you don't want to be so tense that you make a mistake when it really matters, right? It's times like this that you need to be positive and relaxed."

In fact, the rescuers were under tremendous pressure; the only things they were not affected by were the rain, salt, and ice. Moreover, silence had the effect of calming people down inwardly. This is good when you're contemplating or carrying out a task, but at times like this, your mind tends to wander, and you're inevitably filled with negative thoughts, which is a huge drain on your mental energy. The overflow of negative emotions could even lead to despair. You'd get discouraged before you even started.

Most of all, it was Na Yerin. As she slowly walked the path with the spirits, she was battling with a tremendous amount of anxiety, though she wasn't showing it. It was her father who was in danger.

That's why Bi Ryuyeon kept trying to distract Na Yerin as she left Kang Ho Lando, so that she wouldn't think too much about it.

"I'm hoping for something a little different to happen……."

That was his honest hope.

Did you know that people attract what they truly want, and the world always gives them what they want?

But sometimes it came as too much of a gift.

Overwhelming gifts are always a pain to deal with and leave the recipient feeling embarrassed.

It wasn't until they were halfway up the pass that Bi Ryuyeon saw the strange group.

The three at the head of the group, and the eight following them, were all clad in black robes, and to his surprise, they were all women - strikingly beautiful women, too.

Each of these women's wrinkle-free faces shone with their own unique beauty. Some were simple, some were colorful, some were neat, and some were cute.

Bi Ryuyeon's eyes were drawn inwardly to these beautiful women in black, not simply because they exuded noble beauty, but because they were unmistakably martial artists, each and every one of them carrying a weapon. They were also somehow very young, their faces showing the age of a seasoned warrior.

There was a strange sense of pressure, especially from the three ladies who were leading the way. Na Yerin, too, had noticed their strength at a glance and was tensing her body.

I was like, "Who the hell are these women? Is there any place other than Gumgak or Amifa that produces high school girls like that in large numbers?

It was definitely not Ami or Gumgak. Even the prayers of the three women at the head of the line, prayers that dwarfed even Ami Goddess Qin Xiaoling, Ami's greatest genius.

Na Yerin's gaze fell on the noblewoman walking at the head of the line. She was a woman of great beauty, with a wrinkle-free face and an air of nobility that seemed to look down on the whole world.

'That, and the woman's aura is…….'

This tingling sensation on his skin, even though he was far away, was undoubtedly an intangible energy that only super beasts could emit into the air, especially the sharp sword qi. To be able to feel an intangible sword qi from such a distance…….

"You mean a female high school student at Master Hani's level?

She tried to get the upper hand on her master, Gum Hu, but it wasn't easy, even as a disciple.

"How can there be a nameless female high school student who can rival the mighty Gum Hu?

If there was one, she should have made a name for herself long ago. But the name of a supreme female high school student who wore such colors and led a group of female high school students was unheard of until now.

"Who is this?

And where are they headed?

For what?

Na Yerin had been so focused on the black-robed women that she hadn't noticed the complexions of Iceblade and Saltwater. If she were to examine their complexions now, even Na Yerin, who could be described as looking like a carved ice cube, would be horrified.

They had a look on their faces that they didn't usually wear.

* * *

Despite his fiery temper, Iceblade was always calm, cool, and collected, never easily roused to action. Part of this is due to the effectiveness of his cultivated ice-white mind, which is why he is often described as colder than ice.

But he was not the least bit bothered by such comments. It was only natural for him to be as cold as ice, having received the ice white spirit from his heavenly master. Even though he had received the spirit of fire from a heavenly master, it was a hundred times better than the fierce and explosive fire of a blazing flame, which was even called the "burning gacha ban.

But his heart and complexion, which had always been as calm as a stone, were now cracking like a great crack in a stone. His mind was as turbulent as a stormy lake, and his agitation, nay, his agitation, was manifested in his face and behavior. It was so severe, in fact, that he had even begun to imitate the behavior he had always detested so much: clenching his fists with both hands and rubbing his eyes vigorously with them.

As if to confirm that what you're seeing is real or fake, and that you're not looking at the wrong thing.

But the world is a cruel place, and the "reality" they see never really goes away, and so the urge to turn their backs on reality is a bit overwhelming, even for Salt and Iceblade.

Turning a blind eye to reality was simple. Pretend not to see, pretend not to hear, and ultimately, pretend not to be self-aware.

Yes, life is a lot easier when you stop paying attention. It's not a bad life. But if you're destined to be a herbivore, eating other people's food, you might as well be comfortable until you're eaten.

Someone who stops and regresses is the one who advances, and it's not a bad thing to regress yourself for the advancement of others.

That's why you didn't see it. You didn't see it, really, really…….

"Hot!"

Salty and Iceblade snapped to attention at the same time.

He had barely kept his mind from drifting off into eternity with a strong will.

What could have caused such a traumatizing effect on these two masters of the art? What could they have seen that caused them to be so horrified?

Their eyes were immediately drawn to the three ladies leading the strange women.

Curiously, two of them wore their hair long, as if they had been reincarnated as women, one as bright as a blazing flame and the other as blue-silver as the ice of a deep winter lake. The two women were strikingly beautiful, if not for their hair, then for their eyes, but the gazes of Salt and Ice Sword did not linger on them for long. Seemingly uninterested in such distinguished women, their gazes were fixed on the figure of the black-haired woman at the head of the line, dressed as black as midnight.

They stared at each other.

"……."

It was unspoken, but the point was clear.

"Is what I'm seeing accurate?

"Surely you're not thinking what I'm thinking?

'Tell me I'm wrong. Please scold me, tell me I'm mistaken. That my eyes are seriously diseased and I am hallucinating. Just this once, I will allow you to scold me specifically. This is the only time you can legitimately scold me!

'I'd love to do that, too. Do you think I don't want to scold you? Not once, but a million times! But first, I have a favor to ask. I want you to deny what I saw, starting with you. Then I'll give you the chance to scold me too! I'll even let you scold me twice!'

But no one seized on this stroke of genius to rebuke their stalwart opponent, which meant that, hopelessly, what they were seeing was true.

The next moment, they turned away from them, pressing their bamboo lips together as if to make a promise, then slipped quietly into the shadows of the marker, using their ghostly, stealthy tricks of the trade.

Even the people right next to them didn't notice their sudden move.

And they prayed inwardly at the same time.

Hopefully he doesn't find them.

Lest it be discovered that you are the rescuers of the Zheng Tian Ming.

The last thing they wanted to do was see their beloved students wiped out, so they kept their nerves on edge as they made their way up the mountain.

Jang Hong, who was walking alongside, secretly admired the two martial artists, as he hadn't expected them to be so skilled in stealth, but a question lingered in his mind.

"What's wrong with you two, who are not afraid of anything in the world?

Jang Hong couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

"Hurry up with your markings. We need to get out of here now."

At that moment, the full sound of the ice sword struck the eardrums of the Ironhearted Zhang Yiha with a heavy weight. The momentum contained within it made Zhang Yiha feel a chill run down his spine. There was a sense of urgency in it.

"Fix your eyeballs! Don't look back! If you do, you'll die at my hands! Only forward! Only forward! Think only of getting out of here!"

Yeomdo's telegram echoed through the entirety of the tableau. Sending a message to multiple people at once was a miraculous technique that could never be accomplished by mere air power, but he had no time to dwell on such things now.

The pace of the tabulation got faster and faster.

They didn't run, for fear of giving the impression that they were fleeing too quickly, but with each step they took, their strides steadily moved forward. Still, the fact that Yin and Ice Sword were unable to deploy their light attacks at full strength wasn't that frustrating. As long as they could get out of those women's sight, they would use their full strength to get out of here.

He had tripled his pace, but somehow the distance between him and the black-robed women hadn't widened, but remained constant. It was clear that they were speeding up to match his pace. As if they could never relinquish the lead.

As if to say, "How dare you try to outmaneuver me, you insolent bastard!

The strange companionship of silence continued for some time, with neither side saying a word. Neither man was speaking, but it was clear that neither was willing to give in.

Despite the suffocating pressure, none of the rescuers spoke a word. Yeomdo and Binggum continued to wipe the group down with their foreplay again and again. Pick up the pace. But if they picked up the pace here, the only thing left to do was run. There were no bandits here, and sprinting was too suspicious.

Jang Hong looked at the salt and ice swords that polished them, and was stunned.

"That looks like……!

The emotion that was evident in these two people, it was a clear 'fear'.

"Why?

What could possibly be making those two so scared?

But two groups of people, never tolerant of overtaking and in an unspoken race, stopped at the same time.

It wasn't a human that stopped them at the same time.

It was the three swords embedded in the middle of the pass.